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Edgar Chaput
Lionel Messi MLS Scoring Odds, CF Montreal vs. Inter Miami Prediction
It’s been a long time coming for Argentinian legend Lionel Messi to finally play a competitive match in Canada, but it’s finally happening on Saturday at Saputo Stadium in Montreal. Nearly a full year after the announcement that the 2022 World Cup winner would pursue his career in MLS, he is finally playing a game north of the 49th parallel.
How is Messi and Inter Miami’s season going? What can the hosts do to limit the damage ‘la pulga” might inflict? Read on!
Don’t forget to check out our MLS odds for plenty of soccer action.
Messi Setting MLS Scoring Records with Inter Miami
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have been tearing up the pitch since the 2024 MLS campaign began in late February. The club sits atop the East standings with a 7-3-2 (win-draw-loss) record after 12 matches for 24 points.
That alone is impressive but consider that their goal differential is plus-14 despite losing twice and drawing three times. Therein lies part of the brilliance to their season thus far, not to mention why Montreal might be in trouble this weekend.
Messi hasn’t partaken in all of the club’s matches this season. At 36 years old and after countless kilometres on the field, he can be forgiven for having to sit out the odd game. He’s been a participant in eight of 12 contests and has been invaluable in each. Consider that he has 10 goals and 12 assists to his name.
He has either scored or created a goal every time and in only three of those eight games was he limited to only goal or one assist. In fact, for the last three weeks he has been sensational, culminating in a one goal and five assist performance at home to New York Red Bulls last Saturday. Through balls between four defenders (yes, four), lobs over three others, runs that cut through a defence like a hot knife through butter, last week vs Red Bulls was Messi the genius, Messi the obliterator.
Messi Goal Scoring Odds vs. CF Montreal
What do the MLS odds believe he might pull off this Saturday against Montreal? For the record, Laurent Courtois’ unit is currently 11th in the East with a 3-3-4 record and minus-7 goal differential.
That Inter Miami is a -117 favourite to CF Montreal’s +220 underdog status will surprise no one.
The fun begins with the goals Messi might score. He’s on such a run of excellence, that even scoring just once is priced at +154, which isn’t very steep considering that there normally aren’t many goals scored in soccer games. Scoring twice is a bit less likely at +550, and hat trick is a whopping +2000.
That he scores the game’s first goal is an intriguing +300. It’s not that it’s happened this season, but he’s come incredibly close. Twice already he was the first Miami player to tally but after surprisingly early goals from the other team. Against the New England Revolution he scored in the 33rd minute after the opposition got one in the very first minute of play. Versus Nashville he got one in the 11th minute, but Nashville had embarrassingly scored an own goal in the 2nd.
Keep in mind that Messi isn’t operating on his own. Luis Suarez, a teammate from his Barcelona days in Spain’s La Liga, has also scored 10 times and has five assists to his name.
Why these props are intriguing is because Montreal is a patently mediocre club defensively. They’ve conceded two or more goals five times already and have coughed up at least four goals three times. When one considers that last season’s keeper Jonathan Sirois was one of the best in the league, those unenviable numbers speak volumes. The unit, led by Joel Waterman and Ruan (both have played 10 games), isn’t effective at absorbing a ton of pressure and there are sequences in games when the relatively simple matter of clearing the ball from danger looks painfully difficult.
